Page 17 of Silent Partner (Pine Falls 3)

Sure enough, on the laptop screen there was a sticky note:

Make sure to update our social media pages and add the special promo we’re running next week. And make sure to use spell-check.

Wow. I accidentally used you’re instead of your one time and now I’m the village idiot. I think they hated the fact that I was top of our class when we graduated from culinary school. I crumpled up the sticky note and tossed it in the trash before logging in to the laptop. While the computer came to life, I grabbed my coat and hat from the tiny closet in the corner. I couldn’t help but notice the pictures hanging on the wall from our opening day. We were all smiling and pointing at our insignia on the entrance. What a hopeful day that had been for me.

With each button I did up on my coat, I wondered if bankruptcy would be better than continuing to live like this. The sad part was I love what I do. And minus Giselle and Carter, I loved the people I worked with. Even more sad, I used to love Giselle and Carter too. Now, with Tristan, I had one more person to add to the ever-growing list of people I used to love. Except, I still loved Tristan and him. I supposed I should at least be grateful I had my family, who I could always count on and who I knew would never hurt me the way my business partners and men did. This was why I was going to become a cat lady.

Before I headed to the kitchen, I figured I’d better get the promo up before the king and queen texted me. For sure they would be checking social media religiously to make sure I had done their job. Getting on our company page reminded me I should block Tristan. I was so grateful we hadn’t felt the need to make ourselves Facebook official or anything like that. Unfortunately, he was in my profile picture. Worse, we looked so pretty in front of Big Ben. How could he look at me so adoringly and then do what he had this morning? Man, I really hated him right now. Oh well. Not thinking about it. We were done. I replaced my profile picture with a random picture of a black cat from the internet. That’s right. No more perfectly staged pics of me in my cutest outfits. No. More. Men. Period.

Feeling cleansed of some evil—evil being men—I stood and headed for the kitchen. When I opened the door, Jai, my sous-chef, was waiting for me.

“Hey, boss lady.” He smiled.

So, perhaps I would still have friendly affection for Jai. He’d been with us since we’d opened, and he was hilarious. His father was from India, and his mother was an American, as blonde as me. Their gene combination was stunningly gorgeous. Jai had the most beautiful brown skin and ice-blue eyes. Not that I was attracted to him, because I wasn’t. But every other woman on the planet was. Jai always said he was saving himself for Priyanka Chopra, even though she was married to Nick Jonas. He was waiting for her to come to her senses and leave the boy band star for him, although she didn’t know Jai existed. He was hoping all his stalking on social media and tagging her in his posts would pay off someday.

“What’s up, Jai? I was just headed to the kitchen.”

“I need to tell you something,” he whispered.

That didn’t sound good. Admittedly, he was my eyes and ears when I wasn’t here. I made sure no one was around before I waved him into the office and quickly shut the door. I bit my lip, nervous to hear what he had to say.

He scrubbed a hand over his smooth face. “You look tired.”

“Good. Because I am.”

“Up late last night making international calls?” He wagged his brow.

“Something like that.” I blinked back the tears stinging my eyes.

He tilted his head. “What’s wrong, boss lady?”

I let out a long sigh. I supposed I couldn’t hide my embarrassment. “Tristan broke up with me.”

“That man whore.” He snapped his fingers in a zigzagging motion. “And to think I let him seduce me once because he couldn’t get enough of my sandesh.” Sandesh is an Indian dessert made with milk and sugar. Tristan loved Indian food, and the last time he’d visited, I had a little get-together, and Jai had helped me make an Indian feast.

Jai at least made me smile.

He patted my arm. “Are you okay? Should I hire an assassin, or a voodoo priest?”

I let out a small laugh. “I’ll be fine. I’m permanently moving on with a cat.”

He cupped a hand behind his ear. “Do you hear that? The men of the earth are weeping. I mean, not me, because I can’t cheat on my girl Priyanka and you’re my boss and I can’t handle that kind of power,” he teased.

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